To repatriate migrants:

(a) Offer migrants specific positions with favorable terms of employment.

(b) Offer specific incentives for repatriation, such as relaxation of import taxes, or provision of housing.

(c) Send recruiting teams to offer jobs to migrants.

The United States might consider the following action: 1. Strong positive steps to strengthen science and technology in Latin America through:

(a) Adopting as U.S. policy the principle that strong efforts to develop science and technology in Latin America are necessary for economic and social development. This development will require skills, and the generation of job opportunities will tend to keep Latin American scientists and engineers at home.

(b) Establishing a center of responsibility and staff in the State Department for dealing with science and technology in relation to the development of science and technology in Latin America.

(c) Supporting a stronger role and status for science and technology in OAS.

(d) Specific support for the establishment of new, carefully selected, multinational centers for graduate education and research, and for selective strengthening and collaboration among existing strong points of science and technology. These two devices combined would provide more, and more advanced, training opportunities in Latin America, and tend to reduce migration.

(e) More conscious consideration of and greater support for modes of collaboration and assistance to universities in less developed countries through AID or otherwise as a means of reducing the "push" forces.

(f) Elevation of professional qualifications, particularly for physicians, as a prerequisite to entrance to the United States.

(g) Revision of immigration laws and of their administration to control entrance to and length of stay in the country.

12

XXV.-POPULATION GROWTH IN MEXICO

Prepared for the

Select Commission on Western Hemisphere Immigration

by

NATHAN L. WHETTEN

The University of Connecticut

POPULATION GROWTH IN MEXICO

This study is a supplement to a previous one made by the author in 1963 called Population Trends in Mexico1 and differs in the following major respects.

1. The Mexican states which border onto the United States are grouped into a separate region and all tabulations have been made accordingly. This means that developments in these states just across the United States border may be clearly distinguished from those farther south.

2. The data are arranged so that changes occurring during each of the two past decades, 1940-50 and 1950-60, will be clearly evident.

3. An attempt is made to estimate Mexico's probable population for 1970, not only for the country as a whole but also for each state 2 and region of the nation.

REGIONS OF MEXICO

In order to show major variations, the states are grouped into five major regions as indicated in figure 1. The six northern states bordering the United States are placed in a separate region called the U.S. Border States. It is assumed that in these states Mexicans are likely to have more direct contact with the United States in such capacities as temporary workers, daily commuters and frequent visitors (see fig. 1). They are likely to have more intercommunication, generally. Comparisons may thus be made of areas nearest the United States with areas progressively farther away.

In the border grouping are found the six states of Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Sonora, and Tamaulipas (fig. 1). The remaining states in what was formerly called the North Pacific and the Northern regions are grouped into a region called Other Northern States (fig. 1). The rest of the regions are the same as those used in the 1963 study.

The regions with their respective land areas, the 1960 population, and population density are shown in table 1. It will be noted that the region called U.S. Border States has almost twice as much land area as any other, but also is the most sparsely populated of any region. It contains 40.6 percent of the nation's land area but only 15.8 percent of its population (see table 1). It has a population density of only 6.9 inhabitants per square kilometer as compared with 17.8 for the country as a whole (col. 5).

The region called Other Northern States is also sparsely populated and contains 21.2 percent of Mexico's land area, but only 11.3 percent of her population. The density

It was made for the Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee No. 1, House of Representatives of the United States. It was published as "Population Trends in Mexico," Special Series No. 5, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington: 1963, pp. 51-79.

2 Mexico has two territories, Baja California Sur and Quintana Roo, as well as a Federal district. For convenience, all will be referred to as states in this report.